The present invention relates generally to mobile techniques. More particularly, the present invention provides a method and system for tracking a location of an entity using a mobile device for purposes of collecting distance data. Merely by way of example, the present invention can be applied to a mobile device, a tablet computer, or other communication devices.
Most business expenses can be tracked with receipts and credit card statements. Mileage, however, cannot be tracked efficiently. The requirements for tax purposes (and similarly for employer reimbursement) are that a vehicle owner (including lessee) track the following information for every drive: starting location, ending location, distance traveled, time of drive, date of drive, purpose of drive.
Most drivers often do not bother to log their miles as it is too painful a process, but those who do tend to rely on either: (a) a paper log where you capture your odometer readings, time, date, and purpose or (b) a digital log where you either capture that same information or you use a global positioning sensor, commonly termed “GPS” function to start tracking your drive when you start and stop tracking your drive when you stop. What all of these have in common is that a user still needs to actively log their miles at the start and end of a drive.
There are devices that can be installed in a car that use GPS data to track every drive in the background, but they are expensive to install and require technical expertise and certainly are impractical for someone that uses multiple vehicles for their business purposes. Further details of limitations with conventional techniques can be found throughout the present specification and more particularly below.
From the above, there is a need for techniques to track mileage using an improved technique.